On Thursday the panel appointed by parliamentary speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo to determine whether President Cyril Ramaphosa should face impeachment over the Phala Phala scandal published its report. It concluded that Ramaphosa may have violated the constitution numerous times and for varying reasons.
He clearly has a case to answer. The announcement has accelerated an already frenzied ANC political environment where, for the past year during its leadership contest, its government has ignored its constitutional responsibilities. While they have been distracted, the lights have continued to go off, together with other severe infrastructure problems.
These problems choke the economy with increasing intensity while ministers traverse the country criticising one another and contesting each other for power so that they can preside over more problems. It is not clear how much more damage has to be caused before it becomes clear to every actor in the economy that the ANC has, even at its best, lost the ability to govern.
It also has no time to refocus on governing because its top leadership structures are preoccupied with corruption scandals, arguments about how to respond to corruption allegations, and dealing with criminal charges. The proof can be found in how much discussion there has been about its “step aside” rule for leaders facing criminal charges, with those who support criminal suspects and insisting the rule is unfair, demanding that Ramaphosa step aside.
The country is now going to be subjected to another corruption-fuelled distraction while the population goes hungry, communities and businesses are besieged by crime, and violent gangs continue their slow takeover of the economy. I am not certain how some of us are able to continue to pretend that everything will be okay even as skilled South Africans leave the country in droves to seek a better life elsewhere.
It is important that we remain focused on responses that are going to ensure accountability, stabilise the country and prepare for a constructive life without the ANC as the dominant force in SA politics. I suggest five steps are key for anyone who cares about keeping our country together and functioning and for South Africans to retain any hope of a better future.
First, Ramaphosa must appear before parliament and take the country into his confidence, rather than opting for the easy route of resigning. If the people of SA do not know what really happened it will be impossible for them to make informed judgments in future about the quality of potential presidential candidates. Past assumptions of good faith have hurt the country, bringing it to the point of destruction.
Second, we must not be fooled into believing that the coterie of mediocre and questionable candidates within the ANC who have put up their hands to replace Ramaphosa offer any hope of renewal for the country. Many of them are confronted with criminal charges, and part of the current sense of urgency is to neutralise the National Prosecuting Authority and police service’s Hawks unit so that they can buy themselves time to fool the people once more. We must refuse to be naïve now, or ever again.
Third, it is now urgent for all South Africans to take seriously the implications of the ANC’s decline. Failure to do so creates a dangerous strategic vacuum which, in the absence of people with ethical intentions, will rapidly be occupied by thieves, gangsters and their hangers-on to drive the country further into the gutter.
Taking the crisis seriously means developing strategies to find and collaborate with other South Africans who have long seen the crisis for what it really is. Burying heads in the sand and hoping that “somehow, someone will emerge from within the ANC” has proven time and again not to work, and this is why the country is where it is today. At some point we must take full responsibility for what we repeatedly refuse to see and do anything about.
Fourth, we must not allow ourselves to be as distracted as the ANC. We must, despite the noise, continue to develop bold solutions. These must include political reforms to create a more open and accountable electoral system, and to reduce the discretionary power of the executive. Regular, specific disclosures of significant executive action must also be undertaken.
It is critical that South Africans of talent, skill and experience in economy, crime and justice, social development, climate change, education and skills development collaborate to create bold propositions for fixing the country without involving the government. These would inform and focus a national conversation on practical solutions-driven alternatives around which a national consensus can develop.
Fifth, we now need a coalition of ethical democrats more than we have at any point since 1994. No one person or party can hold this country together on their own, especially in the context of the closed party political system. Now is the time for collaborative action and politics premised on our constitutional values.
It is vital that none of us underestimate the profundity of the moment we face now. The time for sentimental attachments to people some of us may like within the governing political class is over. The country and its future are far too important to leave to chance as so many of us have done in the past decade.
Future generations will judge us harshly for continuing to believe in a possibility that has not been there for years, while we allowed people to go hungry and lose hope as the country was being destroyed. It is a travesty that the outlook for our economy is so dismal when its potential is so enormous. It is failing to grow because so many influential members of society have lowered their expectations and what they demand from the political system, and have trusted people they would not hire into middle management in their own organisations.
Merely criticising the ANC is no longer justifiable. We must accept that if we do nothing, we are part of the problem, not the solution.
• Zibi is convenor of the Rise Campaign.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.